Organizational structure is an important element of organizational strategy. To that end, Microsoft decided in June 2013 to transform its organizational structure in line with that of its competitors like Apple. Instead of having many separate (and competing) divisions, it remade itself into four separate divisions, representing operating systems, apps, cloud, and devices (hardware). You can read the official announcement by Microsoft here, and watch a brief video with their then CEO Steve Ballmer here. Ballmer’s memo to the company is also instructive.

Please comment on the substantive aspects of this transformation. Clearly, this was an attempt to unify the corporate strategy of Microsoft, without having different divisions behave as if they were stand-alone companies. Such transformations are rarely without pain. Some folks lose power, ways of doing things have to be scrapped, and there is a lot of resistance during the transition period.

Do you think this will succeed, or are such announcements really an act of window-dressing? Do you have any experiences of your own in this regard? Do you think Microsoft can compete better with Google and Apple as a result of this transformation?

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